Input needed for year of use 1972 Florida plate

Discussion in 'The Bench' started by Bogus919, Oct 16, 2020.

  1. Bogus919

    Bogus919 Silver Level contributor

    Hello, so today I had my 1972 Florida plate authenticated for use on my 1972 Buick. (See example of a similar plate below). I’m looking for some feedback from Florida residents of that era, I can’t find an example online.

    My question is, was there a sticker on that plate and where did it go? The state of Florida is asking me to put the registration sticker they gave me in the top right corner of the plate, but that makes no sense because it covers up the date. All of the other corners plus the middle of the plate are open for stickers. Am I leaving myself up for a citation if I pick another corner? I’m not trying to give any reason to be pulled over, but that sticker won’t work over the numbers.

    Thanks for the input.
    upload_2020-10-16_15-59-55.jpeg
     
  2. TrunkMonkey

    TrunkMonkey Well-Known Member

    No stickers. New plates were issued each year until 1975, and then the DOT stickers started being used.

    Check with the DOT, but most likely the sticker will go on the bottom right, as currently stickers are upper left right.

    (edited, cuz I typed left, when I meant right.)
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2020
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  3. Waterboy

    Waterboy Mullet Mafia since 6/20

    IMG_9773.JPG Good morning! Nice plate you have there, but I think you said it was an example though. I put the sticker where I wanted it, bottom right hand corner, and I've seen many at car shows, and they did the same. Here's a picture of mine.
    A little schooling in case you did not know. The number in the front represents the county, by size of population at some time in the past. A #1 was Miami, or Dade County which had the largest population.
    Jacksonville, or Duval County was a 2 etc. Next came a dash or letter signifying the the weight/size of the vehicle. Your car should have a W. My plate is wrong. (Compact car)
    My wife and I went to a car show once. We were looking at a very nice early Corvette. I quietly said to my wife, "He's got the wrong license plate." The guy heard me and asked what was wrong with his plate? I told him the C/K after the first number was for a pickup truck. He was mad!
     
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  4. Bogus919

    Bogus919 Silver Level contributor

    John, that is an interesting bit of info.... certainly not something I knew ahead of time or I may have tried to get a better plate. I just picked the cleanest one I could get off flea-bay without paying an arm and leg. My actual plate starts with 16v. I’ll have to see if I can find out what that means. I will for sure be putting my sticker at the bottom right, thanks for the help... both of you.

    update: well, it looks like my plate is for Sarasota county and for a light trailer ... I’m real close to Sarasota but nowhere near that weight class.
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2020
  5. Waterboy

    Waterboy Mullet Mafia since 6/20

    Hey Ryan,
    I will not tell anybody about the V on your license plate. :)
    Did you hear about the BOPC car show in Auburndale coming up October 24? You should try to make it. My son and I are driving our cars up from Palm Beach County. That would be a six at the front of the license plate. Sarcasm
    There's going to be a pretty good group of us from the V8 forum showing up there. You could bring your cool son! My son is bringing his two kids which are five and six. They have a big playground in the park where the show is.
    John
     
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  6. TrunkMonkey

    TrunkMonkey Well-Known Member

    Tell folks it's the number of valves in yer motor or that it is a Siamesed Straight 8 V16 :D
     
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  7. Bogus919

    Bogus919 Silver Level contributor

    I was thinking the same thing... I was like, well, I do have 16 valves lol.

    I did hear about the car show, unfortunately I don’t have enough faith in the GS to drive it an hour and a half away. I’m still working towards making her dependable. I have noticed since moving here last month that there appears to be a lot of car shows going on, which is great.
     
  8. no1oldsfan

    no1oldsfan Well-Known Member

    Here in Colorado we just use the whatever year plates. They are five year registrations. Renew them after five years. No stickers required
     
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  9. Bogus919

    Bogus919 Silver Level contributor

    that’s how it was when I lived in misssouri, except registration was lifetime.
     
  10. no1oldsfan

    no1oldsfan Well-Known Member

    Do you really have to use the stickers? Oops ocifer... Though I just needed the plate. If they run the plate it will be you anyway...
     
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  11. richopp

    richopp Well-Known Member

    So, I moved to FL in 1972 and use year-specific plates on all my old cars. Basic county info:

    https://www.flhsmv.gov/pdf/about/history/LicensePlateCountyCodes.pdf

    The weight codes are:

    https://www.jaxfla.com/pl8mancom/codes/index.html

    Now you know it all. VERY DIFFICULT to find a "6" (Palm Beach County) plate with the correct weight letter (W) for our cars. I was SUPER lucky to find a new 6W for my 1966 Corvette that was CHEAP--about $25.00. '72 6W plates, if you can find them, sell for over $100.00! Since my car has several options, it trips the scale over the 3500 lb. curb weight, so 6W is the correct 1966 plate for the car.

    For my '72 GS, I never did find a 6W plate, but did have a '72 plate from Tampa on it.

    For those from other states, in FL you send your year-specific plate to Tallahassee (DOT) with a check, they approve it (has to be reflective and in very good condition), and they send it back to you approved. I put the stickers in the upper right since in 1966 the year was in the lower right. Renewals are slightly cheaper than for normal plates.

    Cheers!
     
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  12. Waterboy

    Waterboy Mullet Mafia since 6/20

    Richopp... Wow! What a blast from the past!!! I've lived in Florida my whole life, and that was so cool seeing those old plates! I now see my post was wrong about the truck license plate. It was a G/K instead of C/K.
    So you were searching for a 6 plate. Are you in Palm Beach County?
    We have a pretty good size group that go on cruises Saturday nights. Last night we had 42 cars! Not all of them are Buick's, but many are past Buick owners. Give a shout sometime.
    John
     
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  13. Waterboy

    Waterboy Mullet Mafia since 6/20

    Ryan,
    If your GS can't make it come visit the show anyway. We've got an outdoor reservation at a local BBQ place afterwards.
    John
     
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  14. 72STAGE1

    72STAGE1 STAGE 1 & 2

    My son is a Cop and he says nobody knows how to check them anyway so pretty much anything will work as long as the plate is the correct year as the model year.
     
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  15. TrunkMonkey

    TrunkMonkey Well-Known Member

    Hope not to drift the thread, but seems a good place to stick it.

    As a back up, I created a "contact" on my phone for each of my cars and then take a pic of the tag, registration and insurance card and use it as the "profile picture" and then add all account numbers and other information, phone numbers and contact names of agents, so I have that information if I need it.

    I also have "mugshots" of my cars and what they are wearing, in case they get carnapped.
     
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  16. dynaflow

    dynaflow shiftless...

    ...I was lucky with my MD YOM plates, '71 was first year of a multi-year tag so no sticker needed, but for display I wanted HI tags to go with dealer frame and unfortunately first year was '69, so had to find uncirculated '71 sticker.
    Unlike MD, HI stamped year into plate rather than raised, so sticker goes over stamped year...
    TAGSreaized.jpg
     
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  17. efogs400

    efogs400 Platinum Level Contributor

    I live in Central Florida and I like having the old year specific plate on the car, however when I go to register them at the local tax office they make it sound like a huge PITA.

    "OH, we can't do that here, you need to write to Tallahassee and prove this and that, blah, blah, blah". I end up just putting the Antique or standard FL plate on the back and put the old plate on the front.

    When I lived in Indiana you could put whatever you wanted on the car, so long as you had the legal registered plate in the car and could provide it if asked.
     
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  18. Max Damage

    Max Damage I'm working on it!

    Last edited: Oct 19, 2020
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  19. 2manybuicks

    2manybuicks Founders Club Member

    Great, now when I go to the Auburndale show I gotta start looking for a 1968-1969 Florida 10W tag...
     
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  20. JohnnyGS

    JohnnyGS Well-Known Member

    felix2.com great site for plates. ive got a few from him already. beware some plates are pricey
    johnny
     
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